Too Close For Comfort
by mydoctortennant
Summary: Will finds out about Merlin's powers when he sees him with a girl. Merlin/OC


**Written for the same prompt as What Are Friends For?; this one is a bit more serious so I wrote a more light-hearted one.**

Kate Miller was the Miller's daughter. The Miller was a strict man who disliked all the young men in the village because he thought that they all had dishonourable thoughts and intentions towards his three daughters.

At seventeen Kate, or Kathryn as her father called her, was the eldest. She had long blonde hair, is petite in both height and stature. She was well known in Ealdor for her seamstressing skills; she could make any dress, skirt or shirt any shape you needed, make her seams damned near unbreakable and nobody had a bad word to say against her work. Merlin had never known another girl quite like her and it was no secret that he had a soft spot for her in his heart.

x

One day Merlin spotted Kate running from her home and into the forest by the village at high speed, and if he wasn't mistaken she was crying. It wasn't unusual to hear raised voices coming from the Miller household. The women in the village often spoke of the mysterious injuries Kate seemed to suffer, most painted her as clumsy. Merlin's mother, on the other hand, has expressed a deep concern for the girl, enough to worry Merlin into following Kate into the forest.

She hadn't gone too far from the edge of the forest so he found her easily enough. She had sat on the fallen tree, back hunched and shaking as more tears undoubtedly rolled down her cheeks and wracked her body. Merlin hesitated. He didn't know if she'd want him there, but when her head turned slightly and he caught a glimpse of the gash across her eyebrow he decided on his course of action.

He ran back to his home and searched the cupboards for a bowl, taking his usual breakfast bowl he filled it with water from the barrel his mother kept by the door. He foraged through the material in his mother's sewing pile. She would never miss a scrap of red material – the offcut from one of Merlin's shirts she had made him three sizes too big – and he took off at a brisk walk back towards where Kate sat.

He didn't make a sound as he sat down beside her. He dabbed the scrap of material in the water and gently, ever-so-gently, raise it and placed it to her cut to clean the wound. Kate winced as he moved it to clear up the blood.

Her tears slowly subsided as Merlin finished cleaning the cut. It no longer looked as angry but that didn't stop the same emotion from swelling in Merlin's gut. There was no way a wound of that calibre was an accident.

Once finished Merlin discarded the cloth and bowl by his feet. Unsure of what to do then he fiddled with the ends of his far-too-long sleeves and looked at his hands.

"Thank you, Merlin," Kate mumbled as she looked at the forest floor. She sniffed and rubbed her nose with the back of her hand.

"It's okay," he replied doing very much the same. There was a small stone in the midst of the leaves that was very interesting, "What happened, Kate?"

"Nothing."

"That cut isn't nothing.

"I fell."

"No, you didn't."

"No," she admitted, "I didn't."

"You can tell me, Kate, you can trust me."

"Can I?" she said shaking her head, "Can I trust anyone?"

"Who did this to you?" Merlin dug, he could feel the anger building inside him. IF he wasn't careful he would do something he'd regret.

"My father," she admitted quietly, so much so that Merlin could barely hear her.

His jaw dropped, horrified, "Kate-"

"It's my fault."

"How can you say that?"

"I made him lose his temper."

"You didn't ask him to hit you."

"No."

"Then how can you say that?"

"You wouldn't understand, Merlin."

"Try me, Kate, because I _want_ to. When is it ever right fo a man to strike a woman? A father to strike a child?"

"There is nothing you can do about it, Merlin. Thank you, but leave it, okay?"

"Kate-"

"Merlin."

"Okay. I won't pry."

"You're a good friend, Merlin, better than I deserve," Merlin went to protest but was cut off by Kate leaning to him and gently kissing him on the cheek, her own cheeks still damp from her tears. The tops of Merlin's ears tinged red. Kate smiled at him, trying to keep herself together. She noticed a flash of amber in Merlin's eyes and she recoiled from him before she jumped out of her own skin as one of the smaller tree stumps exploded in front of her.

She looked at Merlin, he too looked shocked but trees didn't just explode.

"That was you," she said with her voice small and shaky.

"No! It wasn't! I-"

"You have magic, you-"

"Kate-"

She ran. She didn't know what else to do. She hadn't grown up with an opinion on magic. She only heard stories. But Merlin? Harmless Merlin? He had blown up something without saying anything. He was dangerous.

X

When Will had seen his best friend disappear into the forest with a bowl and a cloth he'd thought it odd. What was Merlin going to clean in the forest? It was all mud and foliage. HE knew his friend was strange but this was something else.

He decided he should follow him, just to make sure he hadn't lost it completely.

When he saw the back of a blonde head it all started to make sense, Merlin and his undying crush on the most good looking girl in the village was something he knew about and has teased Merlin about relentlessly many times before.

He watched as Merlin gently tended to her wound. Will moved closer in order to hear the conversation that followed.

He could barely see them from his perch but he somehow managed to see her kiss his friend. His shock over that was quickly replaced by his sudden fear over the large bang that followed.

Kate ran blindly past him. She was repeating words such as 'magic' and 'Merlin' which frankly was absurd.

Will slowly approached his friend, "Merlin? Merlin, what was that?"

"That was magic."

"Where did it come from? Did it come from you?"

"No- I-"

"What happened?"

"I don't know."

"You can trust me, Merlin."

"I didn't do it. Not deliberately."

"Magic doesn't just happen."

"What would you know about it?" Merlin barked at him, immediately feeling guilty but it didn't stop him from shouting again, "It's not happening to you!"

"I think it's quite cool, actually."

"It's not," Merlin snapped. A small grin spread across his face, "Really?"

"Yeah. Merlin the Magician."

X

Merlin sat in his mother's small house in Ealdor holding his old red neckerchief in his hands. When he'd returned he'd hoped to at least see Kate again. Explain to her, but she'd moved on. His mother had said she'd married Edward from the next village and they now resided on his farm together.

Now Will was gone too.

"Merlin?" he turned to see Gwen standing in the doorway, "Are you okay?"

"Yeaj, I'm fine. Just thinking about Will."

"He died a hero."

"Yeah."

"Arthur's getting agitated. He wants to make a move back to Camelot before nightfall."

"I'll be out in a second," she smiled meekly at him, "I'll be okay, Gwen."

"I know, I just hate to see you sad. You're the happiest person I know."

"Now, I thought that title belonged to Arthur."


End file.
